Taboo Or Not?

Taboo or not?

Taboo, a noun, entitled to every crucial thing which needs to be discussed on a round table but unfortunately, is kept underit. It is something that is prohibited or restricted by social custom and if you do so, you get a direct ticket to hell (Welcome aboard!).

India, the land of culture, also has a culture that nobody talks about, taboos, topics like menstruation, mental health, sex, homosexuality, caste, smoking, drinking, divorce and even career expectations are some of the many taboos that have been carried on for millions of years making a lot of people its victims from generation to generation.

So what is it exactly that makes them so scary?
Starting with the most controversial topic, PERIODS (shhh..) While our mothers and grandmothers worry when their laadlibetidoesn’t start bleeding at the appropriate age, and immediately turn hostile when they do so. Now PMS and cramps were not enough that you have to carry the “impure” tag for 5 days and talking about this to men, Oh lord! The heavens will fall, because they still think it’s the stork that brings babies. Not allowing women to enter temples, interact with others or just living normally for those 5 – 7 days just because their uterus is doing something it was designed to, is a question that’s still unanswered and probably will forever be because the rule makers are long gone.

Inter- everything Marriage and Homosexuality: It was lord Krishna who said, “Everything is fair in love & war”, but failed to mention the conditions that apply, like? What is fair? The skin? Oh! That’s another taboo that we can talk about some other time. Well, we often hear, “jodiyantohuparwalabanatahai” (matches are made in heaven) which makes me think, how? And does the same religion, caste, etc. guarantee a happy life? If yes, take notes Tinder! And if the ‘same’ everything is considered so auspicious, then why is same sex marriage a sin? I see posters in trains and roadside urinals of babas claiming to cure gay walibimari.There have been honour killings just because two people were in love and wanted to have a life together but then don’t they know that ‘culture’ is not a way of life but a way of illogical domination?

Sex& Sex Eductation – Ah! I’ve kept it 3^rd because, unfortunately, the number is considered unlucky too. Its funny how the land of Kamasutra considers sex a taboo, wait, aren’t we the most populated country too? While are temples glorify it as an absolutely pure and normal process, our society abhors it. Hypocrisy being the cornerstone of our ‘culture’, finds sex a sin and a topic that people from good families must not talk about and the same society comes creeping at you like leeches after you’re married asking about the ‘good news’ because “bachhetohbhagwanki den hotehai”. Moving out of the bedrooms and into the schoolrooms, sex education is something that every person requires because watching videos is not education! I wonder what kind of twisted logic drives our society to protect us from sex education. Every year, about 6 percent of the adult population in India are infected with sexually transmitted infections and reproductive tract infections (STIs/RTIs). If this doesn’t trigger them, I don’t know what will.

While setting prohibitions and restrictions in some spheres of life is essential, this is not so for debilitating social taboos that only bring down quality of life. Taboos string us to conform to illogical beliefs and hamper our growth and development. If you encounter members of your society adamantly sticking to age-old taboos that serve no purpose but to humiliate a being, try to communicate to them the pitfalls of their beliefs. The spread of education and higher standards of living especially among women, who are now increasingly getting financially independent, should help rid India of this hogwash.

Take a look and think, what makes them these issues Taboo? Starting from the menstruation, what is wrong in saying that I AM ON PERIODS. It is as natural as to breath. So, why I am always asked to whisper and not calling it a pad and not discuss with any male side. Why do we need to pretend as none of us know about it? Though I bear that pain every month? Inter caste/ religion marriage, every Indian has heard the phrase “jodiyantohuparwalabanatahai(couples are made in heaven)” . Is it by default, the matching of the caste, sex, religion, color, gotra, kundali here? God must have amazing software then! Using left hand, this is ridiculously worst belief among Indians. Does using left hand, makes a human any lesser? Does the capabilities and qualities of that person is not noticeable? Alcohol, another taboo. Drinking is not bad until it harms anyone and even that can be managed by controlling yourself. But this thing is kept in such a way as it kills the beholder which is not so, definitely. Sexual needs, desires, fantasies are limited to the phone’s screen of the teenage boys, the rest of it, is taboo. The point is to say is, whispering it, is nice and decent whereas clearing your throat and thoughts and discuss it with people is offensive. The very moment you do so, you are the most unwelcomed member in the room. Such conservative thinking is the reason that we are still behind. Well, it is natural phenomena which should be treated and taught well, unless one can end up risking their life.There are many serious diseases which can directly lead you to fatality, due to the lack of sex education. Also the emerging techniques like Sexting are proved as harmful among youth.People will anyway find their way to have intimate relation which may also end up at molestation or visiting brothel. Amusingly, men in Indian society have been given the liberty and the respect to visit brothel whereas the women working there are always disrespected.

As concluding, there is only one opinion I can share is, we should know the significance of these issues and start clearing and promoting our thoughts regarding these subjects which are forcefully kept in the category of taboo.. The reason behind ridiculous rules is our conservative thinking only. Our old mentality is not letting the people adopt any change. They have made themselves comfortable with the inappropriate rituals and policies which must be vanished from the society. We need to change the presentation of these issues among society. We should generate more information and measures about them not to curse people belong to these so called taboos.